As a teacher, I want to have a great relationship with my students and their parents. But there are things I can unknowingly do to sabotage (or improve) that relationship. In today’s show, we’re talking with Mike Hall about how to have the best start of the school year ever with our parents.

Parents and teachers should be partners in student progress. At the end of the day it comes back to communication. Communicate early. Communicate often. Communicate in ways that are convenient for parents. Give the parents and students respect that you also want to receive from them.

Today’s Sponsor: Bloomz

Bloomz is a powerful, easy to use (AND FREE) parent-teacher communication app. It gives parents a choice of how they want to receive communications: email, notifications, the app or the website. This app also has photo sharing, calendars, messaging, behavior management, and student portfolios.

I use Bloomz. Here’s the thing I love about it: once I invite a parent via email — they are IN! Even if they don’t join, they still get my classroom announcements. Bloomz is free and definitely an upgrade to my previous parent communications method.

Show Notes:

Why should you make a positive phone call early in the year?

Why is hosting your own parent night for your classroom a good idea?

What are the things we need to use to communicate with parents?

What are some fantastic ways to communicate with parents? (I love his tip of giving parents questions to ask kids about what is going on in class!)

Why is scheduling parent messages a good idea?

What are some ways teachers sabotage their relationship with parents?

What is one of the most common gripes parents have about teachers? (How can you prevent it from happening to you?)

Who is Mike Hall?

J. Michael Hall@strongfathers, M.Ed. is an educator, speaker and founder of Strong Fathers-Strong Families, he has presented to more than 165,000 fathers at local schools, Head Starts, as well as regional and national conferences. For his pioneering work over the past twelve years in education and the fatherhood field he was honored as a 2012 White House Champion of Change.

Peter Barrett gives us an overview of his classroom design research in today’s show. Peter and his co-authors found a 16% impact of classroom design on the learning of 3766 primary school students in the UK. Peter breaks down the study into individual factors like light, air quality, and nature. But, perhaps the most astounding impact is the power of personalization and helping students “own” the classroom on learning. This personalization aspect impacts all teachers!

Today’s Sponsor: Carson Dellosa

As you design your classroom, use the fantastic resources by today’s sponsor Carson-Dellosa. As can be seen by the points made in today’s show, we should all check out these tools and resources at Carson-Dellosa. Additionally, they have great tips on decluttering their classroom and a first-year teacher’s guide. This week, Carson Dellosa is featuring a set of interactive notebooks that allow students to show what they know.

Show Notes:

The studies he conducted looked at primary children in the United Kingdom.

To understand the impact of classroom designs they tried to incorporate as many aspects of the classroom as possible. Everything from lighting to air to what’s on the walls, it was all included in the study.

They found a 16% impact of school design on student learning in this study.

Questions We Discussed

What are the important factors of classroom design realting to the learning of younger children?

What is the impact of students feeling like they own their own classroom learning?

What is the impact of natural light on the classroom? And isn’t enough just to do big windows can big windows actually decrease learning in the classroom?

What is the impact of air quality?

What kind of light is best for children?

Is there such a thing as overstimulation? What colors are best?

How can student personalization of the learning space amp up learning?

What are common misconceptions by teachers of younger children on classroom design?

Who is Peter Barrett?

Peter Barrett MSc PhD DSc is Emeritus Professor at Salford University in the UK and and an Honorary Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Department of Education. After initially training as a surveyor he has since carried out academic research in many areas, most recently around the impact of buildings on people, and more specifically of school design on pupils’ learning rates.

How do exercise, sleep, and the unique composition of the human brain impact learning? Today’s guest, neuroscientist John Medina, shares his views on where schools are falling short. Today’s show is a thought-provoking and edgy discussion sure to evoke a lively discussion in your PLC. If you love Brain Rules, listen to today’s show.

Plan an Exciting Student Trip with Rustic Pathways

Today’s Sponsor: Rustic Pathways. The most memorable experiences in my teaching career happened on trips with students. Today’s sponsor Rustic Pathways can help plan your trip and make learning meaningful. Take time now to plan an incredible trip with your students. Go to http://ift.tt/1YA5UVh to learn more about the exciting trips you can plan with students.

Show Notes:

How do schools ignore brain differences?

Can you teach to the norm of a class?

Why does the current grade structure in schools cause concern?

Is there an optimal student-to-teacher ratio according to neuroscience?

How do exercise and learning relate?

What did a group of engineers do to increase their rate of Mandarin Chinese language acquisition 20% faster?

Parents and teachers need to interact with students. Kids need the real world. Hands-on manipulatives help them learn, as well. Today’s guest helps us with balancing the physical world and the virtual tablet-based world many young children inhabit.

Show Notes about Kids and Tablets:

What are ways that parents and teachers can engage with kids as they use tablet devices?

How can we help children learn to self-regulate their use of tablet devices?

How do you select activities and games appropriate for your child?

Who is Diane Levin?

Diane E. Levin, Ph.D., is a Professor of Education at Wheelock College in Boston. She is the author of Beyond Remote-Controlled Childhood(NAEYC) and So Sexy So Soon. She is a founder of Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children’s Entertainment and Defending the Early Years.

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to edit and post it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.)

You are invited to attend my free live webinar, Differentiating Instruction with Technology. This is one of my most popular sessions that I share at conferences. Register Now 01 Days 00 Hours 22 Minutes 52 Seconds Webinar is past! Learn how to build a classroom framework of tech tools so you can reach every child. […]

You can unleash a student intrinsic motivation from the first day of school. First, you start the school year with authentic connections. Second, you create a culture of learning. In today’s episode, Mike Soskil, award-winning science teacher and Global Teacher prize finalist, shares his ideas for starting school.

Additionally, he shares secrets for creating a culture that unleashes student intrinsic motivation. While Mike is an elementary science teacher, I learned many techniques that apply to my middle and high school classrooms.

Today’s Sponsor: Freshgrade

This episode is sponsored by Fresh Grade. Freshgrade has a free tool that lets you create student portfolios. To make them even more powerful, these portfolios can include video, sound, various kinds of media, text and more. In fact, you can even include student and parent comments!

In light of their flexibility, consider using Fresh Grade for your student portfolios. Take time to test out Fresh Grade. It’s free for parents, students and teachers.

Show Notes:

How letting his students share their learning in more meaningful ways other than passing the test on Friday made magic!

How does Mike give students powerful global experiences from the first day of class?

What is mystery animal Skype?

How does Mike start the school year in a strong way?

What do you do and say to develop a classroom culture of respect and learning?

Can you help students become more intrinsically motivated?

What is the advice Mike would give to himself as a first year teacher?

Michael Soskil @msoskil was a top-10 finalist for this year’s Global Teacher Prize, widely considered the Nobel Prize of Teaching. Mike has been recognized for the innovative ways he empowers his students to use learning to solve problems around the globe. Additionally, he was a 2012 winner of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching. Currently, Mike teaches elementary science in northeastern Pennsylvania. .

Every Classroom Matters (Recent Shows)

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